A BEERbrewed in Montgomery was one of just five to be awarded the coveted three gold stars at this year’s Great Taste Awards.

Out of 12,366 entries in the prestigious competition, covering all sorts of products from Salami to flour, only 165 received three stars and just five of these were beers.

Among them was Monty’s Brewery’s Oatmeal Stout, Dark Secret. The brewery celebrated further recognition with another of its beers gaining two stars and another being awarded one.

The Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, is the acknowledged benchmark for fine food and drink. It has been described as the “Oscars” of the food world.

Russ Honeyman, commercial director for Monty’s Brewery, said: “This is a big award for us, Dark Secret is a great beer, it also happens to be gluten free as well

“The judges’ comments were impressive – ‘cleverly constructed, deep colour and inviting in the glass, smooth and sweet from the oatmeal’.

“We also received two stars for our beer Old Jailhouse and one for Sunshine. We have received one and two stars before but this is our first three-star.

“These awards come at a great time for us, having also just received in the same week our single biggest export order for more than 10,000 bottles to France of our 7.3 per cent Imperial IPA Eastbound. This stemmed from a great Welsh Government initiative back in March this year the TasteWales event held at Celtic Manor Resort”